Bends vs. Creases - relative impact on grade 0

[Jim Baird]

I'm sure this has been covered (probably ad nauseum) in the past, but searching both the forums and Google didn't turn up a satisfactory answer.  What is the relative impact of a non-color-breaking bend vs. a crease of the same length?  I see references in the Overstreet Guide (which as many have discussed is inconsistent and unclear at best), but also know that CGC doesn't adhere to the same guidelines. Useful tools like the "Ultimate Comic Book Grading Cheat Sheet" that has circulated online is also helpful, but references creases rather than bends.

Any rules of thumb?  Obviously, a 1" crease with color break would knock a book down much more than a 1" slight bend with no break, but how much less?  For example, if a 1" crease with color break on an otherwise perfect book knocks it down to an 8.0, what's the impact of a light 1" bend with no break?

 

[marvelmaniac]

Unfortunately this question has a lot of "Gray" areas and there is no cut and dry answer, nothing etched in stone, even with CGC, grading is speculative and opinionated and based on the books appearance and defects in its entirety.

If you read the grading standards the first mention of a "Bend" is in...

NM 9.4 " A 1/16" bend is permitted with no color break".

The length of the bend changes minutely with each downward grade.

NM- 9.2 "A 1/16-1/8 bend is permitted with no color break."

VF/NM 9.0 "An 1/8" bend is allowed if color is not broken."

The first mention of a "crease" is in...

VF 8.0 "An unnoticeable 1/4" crease is acceptable if color is not broken."

What is the difference between a "bend" and a "crease"?, Look it up and you will not even find concrete, definitive answers to the definition of "crease and bend", so it is all left up to human interpretation.

Once you get below VF 8.0 the only thing mentioned is...

FN/VF 7.0 "Minor cover wear beginning to show, possibly including minor creases"

At FN/VF 7.0 there is no mention of color break except on the spine, what exactly constitutes a "minor crease"?, again it is left up to human interpretation.

[comicginger1789]

^ Very true

Unfortunately, the terminology is very misleading in the comic world. No one person has ever really bothered to clarify or make it consistent to the point where a lot of it is just meaningless words. Why do you think CGC does not include grader notes on a lot of higher grade books? They just "go by the ole eye test" and really there is only these minor imperfections that make it a 9.4 and not a 9.6 or 9.8. So they don't even bother naming these for fear of having pushback on what that defect actually should be called.

To me, a bend is something that pressing could improve greatly, if not almost eliminate. A crease you can see. It is a line in the book, it breaks colour. It cannot be undone and most often a press will do nothing to improve it. I hate the term "non colour breaking crease". Either call it an indentation if it is linear in shape or a bend if it appears near a corner or edge. 

[dm3]

Hi all,

 

Given that the number of defects is relevant, what effect would a single, say 1/4” corner bend (not crease and non-color breaking) have on the overall grade of an otherwise NM+ comic, with no other defects?

The 1/4” is significant enough in length(a “severe” defect)  to be put out of range for NM, so would the book be knocked down to NM- or VF/NM range based on the **single** defect?  

 

Also if the same corner bend (non-color breaking and not crease) traverses through the entire book, including the interior pages how would that affect the overall grade on an otherwise perfect book?

if anyone has any examples of slabbed books with corner bends noted in grader notes could you possibly post photos of them.

thanks for any feedback.

Edited January 3, 2021 by dm3